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Editorial: UFC sends mixed messages to Max Holloway and Carla Esparza

Rose Namajunas retained her UFC strawweight title at UFC 268 with a split-decision win over Weili Zhang. After the fight, the defending champ said former champion Carla Esparza, who defeated Namajunas to become the inaugural strawweight champ in 2014, seemed like a reasonable choice for her next defense.

“That seems sort of like the logical step, but I’ve got to see what the UFC is thinking I guess. but yeah, I would love to fight Carla,” Namajunas said at the post-fight press conference.

Esparza, who is riding a five-fight winning streak, is the No. 2 ranked fighter in the UFC’s official strawweight rankings.